Syndicate of Konoha
by Balance of Opposites
Summary: The lives of the Syndicate and those associated with them can be full of angst, drama, and plenty of humor. As the story starts, we join Kakashi and his 'enforcers' as they get a drink in the bar. M/M, YAOI, OCs eventually .


Title: Syndicate of Konoha  
Fandom: Naruto AU  
Story Pairing(s): Kakashi X Iruka, Raidou X Genma, Naruto X Sasuke, Tenzou X Shikamaru, Gai X Lee, Asuma X Kurenai, Itachi X Kisame, Jiraiya X OMC, Ebisu X OFC, Kiba X OFC (so far)  
Chapter Pairing(s): pre Kakashi X Iruka, pre Raidou X Genma  
Author: Athame (a.k.a. Ghost of a Rose/Morrigan Moonwater/Nephthys Snape/Soundbreaker)  
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. I make no profit in writing this story.  
Summary: Konoha is a city located in the Western United States, in this AU. It is ran by a group known only as the Syndicate. Lead by Tsunade, this group of men and women police the city, acting outside the law, and sometimes break it. As the story starts, Kakashi and his group of 'enforcers' deal with a small time dealer, and their own intergroup drama.  
Rating This Chapter: 14+  
Author's Note(s): Info on the Syndicate, who they are and what they do, visit these links. http:// yaoi. y-gallery. net / announcement /6361 /129836/ ... http:// yaoi. y-gallery. net /announcement /6361 /129838/ ... This chapter came out faster paced than I really wanted it to, but oh well.

Syndicate of Konoha

Chapter One

Use to be driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, you didn't really encounter anything worth seeing. That had all changed a little over sixty years before our story begins, but sometimes a little history helps make a story have more meaning. Sometimes.

It so happened that two men and their brothers saw in that barren stretch of land, along that long boring highway, an opportunity. Through some property ventures and investments, they sought a new life, a new beginning. A city of their own making. And, make it they did.

From the start, it was a city with two faces. Many cities have many faces, but this city had two very distinct ones. There was the city the tourists saw, rich and shiny and beautiful. Safe enough to walk down the street without clutching purse strings or glancing over your shoulder. Then, there was the city beneath that city, figuratively speaking. The true city, cast in the shadows and ran, not by official law, but by the power of men. Not just any men, mind you, but powerful men, who had names, money, and connections. Men who were known only as the Syndicate.

Old families with roots so deep in tradition that they practically breathed old money. Others no more than hired muscle, refined into somewhat presentable gentlemen. Still others selected for particular skills. All of these men, and over time women, too, made up the true justice system in the city. A city named Konoha.

But, the city, while a very important part of our story, is merely our setting. Her history, though it shaped her, is best left for another day. No, our story is about some of those who make up the Syndicate as it is today, and still others who would like no more than to pretend it doesn't exist or see it destroyed.

These people will be introduced to you over the span of the story. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the tale being spun for you with violence, love, sex, and money. And, the fight to keep a way of life from being destroyed by those who do not understand or who simply wish more power for themselves.

Our story starts at a small club . . .

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

The club wasn't all that busy, it being early on a weekday evening, but the regular patrons were there, as they were most nights. Business would pick up in an hour or so, as even more people got out of their boring, useless jobs and came to unwind and ogle the very attractive people the proprietor had working for him. You had to be a knockout, male or female, to work for Jiraiya. No matter if it was at one of his adult clubs or one of the clubs for the more general public. Even those who worked in his adult stores had to be attractive. Sex sales, he always said.

The four men sitting in 'their' corner at the back of the club weren't there for any interest in Jiraiya's employees, at least not this time, and the lack of large crowd suited them just fine. They sat at the perfect angle to see the entire club and the exits, allowing them to see anyone and everyone that came and went. Though, only one of them seemed to be paying any attention to their surroundings at all.

Besides the obvious space they were being given, their clothing set them a bit apart from the rest of the cliental, as did the feeling you got from them. Many knew who they were, as they were regulars in most of Jiraiya's clubs, but those who didn't got the feeling they didn't want to. Each man wore a suit, or some semblance of one, such as the hand tailored, expensive black silk suit the silver-haired man wore with such confidence it may as well have been his own skin. What did he care if it outclassed anything else in the room? He looked good in it, with the top buttons of his black silk shirt undone, not having worn a tie that day. To add to his striking figure was the black silk hankerchief he wore over his face like a bandana in a western film. He was mysterious and sexy with an obvious edge of danger about him.

On the other end of the spectrum was the man to his left wearing a simple black blazer, t-shirt, and slacks. It was this man, with his stern tanned face, who watched the patrons of the club as he leaned forward on the table, his drink between his hands. He seemed the least approachable of the group, with his burned face set into hard lines as he took in everything around him. Like an animal poised to attack if you threatened it's territory.

To his own left sat another man dressed in much the same manner, only his t-shirt was white instead of black. He had a smile on his face, which turned the metal toothpick in his mouth up just enough to catch the club's lights and make the metal glint. His long sandy blond hair hung loose around his shoulders. He was a handsome man, the only one of the four not bearing any sort of facial scar. Not that the scars the others had took away from their looks.

On the right of the silver-haired man, who had his own scar cutting from forehead to cheek bone through his left eye, sat another long haired man; his hair pulled up to the back of his crown, exposing his handsome tan face. A scar ran across his nose and cheek bones, drawing more attention to his warm brown eyes than hindering his appearance. He wore a nice black suit, but nothing along the lines of the man to his left, and his face was set in a look of annoyance as he looked upon the silver-haired man. "What are we doing here, again?"

The silver-haired man, Hatake Kakashi, leader of the little group, answered him with an air of boredom. "Observing." It was a simple answer to a simple question, and was clearly contradicted by the fact he had his own eyes closed and his head resting back against the wall behind him.

Iruka, the man to Kakashi's right, snorted. "Sure you are." If it took effort, most of the time Kakashi avoided doing it.

Raidou, eyes still on their surroundings, answered for Kakashi, as he often did. "There's someone suppose to be dealing in here." He glanced at the other man then turned his eyes back to the club. "We can't have that, can we?" Though Iruka was Kakashi's right hand man, second-in-command, Raidou was his left and unofficial third-in-command. Not to mention the leader's bodyguard.

Iruka didn't dignify the question, which he took as rhetorical, with an answer. Besides, he wasn't letting himself be distracted from Kakashi. "If he was actually watching . . ." The words, while seemingly spoken to Raidou, were actually directed at Kakashi, and they all knew it.

A chuckle sounded as the fifth member of the group, which was unofficially titled Hatake Kakashi's Enforcement Squad, came up to them. He, like the rest, wore a black suit, nice but nothing special about it. On his hands were black gloves, which he wore only when out seeing to business with the other four. It cut down on complications in his life to have his fingerprints hidden away. "You're just upset because he's not paying attention to you." He smirked as plopped down to Genma's left. "Sorry I'm late. Took a little effort to get away from work tonight."

Raidou gave him his own small smirk and teased, "Who were you ogling this time?" It had been a running joke since Kakashi swore he'd seen Tenzou checking out the police chief's ass.

Without missing a beat, he dead-panned. "Oh, I was in the bathroom jerking off to thoughts of Genma, here." He gestured toward the blond to his right with his thumb. It had the desired reaction. Raidou shut up real quick and gave Tenzou a nice, hot glare. It wasn't a well kept secret, except from Genma, somehow, that Raidou had feelings for the blond.

Not picking up on the obvious, Genma quipped back, "Really? I thought you wanted to be in between Kashi and Iruka when they go at it." He smirked at Tenzou, toothpick pointing up in a way that almost seemed smug, Genma thinking himself quite clever.

Kakashi, not one to let such opportunity pass him by, quickly joined in on the fun, turning the joking onto Iruka and Tenzou more than himself, simply by playing along with Genma. Though, truth be told, his main target was indeed Iruka, as usual. It was another not so well kept secret how Kakashi felt about the youngest of the group. "Sounds kinky. What do you think, 'Ruka?" He smirked in Iruka's direction without opening his eyes. Only those that truly knew him would know he was making any expression at all. "I can see it now, you tied to the bed, Tenzou taking you hard as I take him. Would you both scream each others names or mine, I wonder." He loved nothing more than fucking with them, especially Iruka. Wanting to see Iruka's reaction, he cracked his eyes open just enough to be able to.

Turning a bit pink, Tenzou responded, "I'd rather be with Captain Denial and Pervert, Jr." It was clear he meant Raidou and Genma, respectively.

Not missing a beat, Iruka calmly made his own response. Unlike Genma, he was well aware of how Kakashi felt, though he was sure the other man was just having a passing fancy. "I don't think Tsunade would like me sleeping with someone else." If they wanted to fuck with one another, they should know they were up against the master, he thought. And, he was so calm, cool, and collected. They had no idea if they should believe him or not.

Raidou was left with his mouth open and finger raised as he was about to address Tenzou's comment; his wide eyes turned on Iruka. Genma couldn't even come up with a reaction, stunned. Tenzou looked thoroughly grossed out, while Kakashi just chuckled and closed his eyes again. He no more believed Iruka than elephants could fly. The reactions left Iruka looking smug.

Tenzou couldn't stop staring at him for any sign it was a joke. "You aren't serious! I thought she only went for Jiraiya." Not that Jiraiya went for her back, besides some teasing. If Tsunade was even serious about Jiraiya. He often doubted it.

Raidou made his own grossed out face at the idea of Tsunade with anyone. "Hell, I thought she'd dried up in that department years ago." He just did not want to think about her and sex. Ever.

Seeing the perfect way to get them back for some of the shit they joked and talked about at his expense, Iruka continued on with the rouse, "Oh, no, she's hot and sexy the way her beautiful breasts hang above me when she's on top . . ." He trailed off, going so far as to have a dreamy eyed expression, though the thought of her above him grossed him out just as much as it did them. Still, he'd had worse experiences than he imagined that would be. "And, she's so tight," he added for good measure.

Having enough, Kakashi sat up and opened his eyes. "Okay, please stop. I'm getting sick." While not believing the story, not seeing when either Iruka or Tsunade had time or opportunity for an affair, he couldn't say it was completely impossible. That irritated him. He didn't want to think of Iruka being with anyone. Anyone but him.

Hitting the nail on the head, Genma smirked at him. "Just jealous now."

No one said anything more about it as hard, deadly mismatched eyes shot Genma a look, and Kakashi, more or less, gave the order to drop it. "Let's just talk about something else. I don't want to picture Tsunade naked. Period." His tone was final.

It wasn't often Kakashi took such a tone with them, and they all remained silent just long enough that he was the first one to break the silence he'd caused. And, only then because he had to. "I think the dealer's arrived. Not that any of you would have noticed with all your bolstering and racket." Standing, he looked at all of them. "Wait here," he ordered before walking around Iruka and slipping through the growing crowd in the club.

Over the initial shock of their boss' change in mood, they ignored the command. Iruka stood to follow Kakashi with a roll of his eyes. As much at Kakashi's behavior as Raidou's comments upon it. "Great," the burned man was saying. "He's pissed. I hate it when he gets pissed." Being Kakashi's bodyguard, mostly just when they were out on business, left the man in his own mood. "He's going to cause a scene, likely a fight, and then we have to clean up the mess." The 'again' was left unspoken.

Tenzou snorted. "We? I'm the one that has to keep the cops from getting involved." Sometimes working with Kakashi _and_ being a detective was a major pain in the ass.

Genma rolled his eyes at them and sipped his drink. Kakashi could take care of the minor dealer on his own. He wasn't their boss and one of the lieutenants in the Syndicate for nothing.

Standing, Tenzou tried to spot Iruka, who had left them right after he stood, and Kakashi through the people milling around the club, only half hearing Raidou as he spoke to Genma. "Think he really does like Iruka?" Tenzou stifled another snort at the stupid question.

Genma simply sighed. "Yeah."

Raidou knew it was a dumb question, but it was a subject that they all really needed to address, in a serious manner. "Oh boy." He stood beside Tenzou. "Guess we need to lay off, but first we best follow Iruka before it's him Kashi hands their ass to tonight." Kakashi was never pleasant to be around when he was in a violent mood.

The blond made no move to stand or to go with them. "He's a big boy. He can take care of himself." They could all take care of themselves, and really didn't need to do anything as a group, but being a group cut down on violence. Generally, those they were dealing with simply gave up without a fight when faced with the five of them. They each had their specialty, a reason Kakashi had put them in the group, and everyone knew what they were capable of as a whole.

Tenzou tended to agree, but there was more to it than that. "Yeah, but you know how Tsunade gets when she has to give Jiraiya money to cover the damage." Not to mention the extra paperwork he'd have to see to at work.

Sighing, Genma stood. He'd never hear the end of it if he didn't go with them. "Come on then."

The three of them followed after Iruka, who they saw had already caught up to Kakashi. The latter was standing over a cagy looking, small time dealer. The young, jittery man looked like he was about to piss himself. His eyes were wide as he looked up at Kakashi, knowing the latter's reputation on the streets for being very dangerous, very deadly. Kakashi had yet to even say anything, and the kid was ready to give it up. Holding out his hand, Kakashi demanded, "Give me your stash."

Either brave or stupid, he stuttered, "B~b~but I don't have . . ."

Not in the mood for subtlety or diplomacy, wanting to beat the shit out of someone, he growled violently, "Now, dickwad, before I break something, inside of you." The last was said with a glint in his mismatched eyes. With a shaking hand, the dealer handed over his small backpack that had hidden compartments concealing a variety of drugs. "Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't cooperate." He took the bag with a sigh. The urge to go ahead and pound the punk was only slightly quelled by Iruka's hand on his arm. Sighing again, Kakashi jerked his head to the side. "Get out and don't let me see you in here again, or hear about you dealing."

He and Iruka watched as the guy practically tripped over himself to get away from Kakashi and out of the club. No doubt, he'd boast about getting away from Kakashi with some lame story, and they'd have to deal with him again later, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Iruka shook his head. "Real smooth," he said softly.

Kakashi didn't look up from rifling through the backpack. "Did you have to spoil my fun?" He'd really wanted to pound the guy.

Iruka wasn't overly surprised that it was somehow his fault Kakashi was in the mood he was in, and that the dealer had got away unscathed. "What fun? Guy gave it up easy," he commented dryly.

Finally deciding to let Tenzou deal with the backpack, nothing of interest in it that needed his attention, he stopped his searching and closed the bag up. "Doesn't mean I couldn't have broken something." He blindly tossed the bag to the side, right by Iruka. There was an oomph as it hit Tenzou right in the gut, him wrapping an arm around it reflexively.

Iruka, having enough of Kakashi's mood, grabbed the other's hand and headed for the door. "You have too much energy." More like he was wound far too tight, Iruka thought.

Kakashi threw the guys a curious look as he was dragged from the club. Their shrugs and smirks were far from helpful. "Stop being a baby," Iruka told him, not bothering to look back at him as he lead him into an alley.

After a moment more of being pulled along, Kakashi pulled free of the younger man. "I am not being a baby. Now where are we going?"

Iruka stopped and turned to face him. They'd gone far enough, anyhow. He crossed his arms and looked at Kakashi. "To work off some of this tension."

Kakashi grinned under his mask. "Oh?" He wriggled his brows. "And, how are we going to do that?" He knew that Iruka didn't mean sexually, even though that's where most of Kakashi's tension was coming from. It wasn't that he couldn't find someone to have sex with. There were plenty of people who would more than jump for the chance to be in his bed, but there was just one person wanted it to be. He couldn't settle for anyone else. Not even for one night. Not anymore.

Whatever answers Kakashi thought possible to his question, the fist headed for his face was most certainly not among them.


End file.
